Drifting
by Uozumi
Summary: There's a wedge between Stiles and Scott. Peter wants to make it larger. I entered this in the Teen Wolf Fanfiction Contest.


**Fandom** _Teen Wolf_ (2011)  
**Character(s)/Pairing(s)** Boyd, Derek, Erica, Isaac, Peter, Scott, Sheriff Stilinski, ensemble; no real pairings, hint of Jackson/Lydia briefly, take this as you will  
**Genre** Drama/Family/Fantasy/Friendship  
**Rating** PG  
**Word Count** 2,672  
**Disclaimer** Teen Wolf c. Davis, MTV  
**Summary** There's a wedge between Stiles and Scott. Peter wants to make it larger.  
**Warning(s)** spoilers up through season two episode twelve  
**Notes** I sent this in to the _Teen Wolf_ fanfiction contest on August 28, 2012. I figured since the contest ends tomorrow (September 8), I'm probably in the clear to post this now. I was worried this fic would exceed the 3,000 word limit, but luckily it didn't. I did, however, forget that Boyd is not keen on Stiles, but that only affects one minor choice in the fic and well, maybe Boyd's learned to tolerate Stiles a little? I didn't write them as chummy or anything, so there's that. Why isn't it Sterek? Despite the fact I ship it, I can't quite write it yet because that would involve me writing a very long and involved chapter fic where the relationship builds slowly over time and yeah, I only had 3,000 words to work with here. I'm surprised this is my third _Teen Wolf_ fic and I haven't gotten to Sterek yet too. I'll rectify that eventually.

_**Drifting**_

"It bothers you."

Stiles looked over at the voice where he leaned on the railing of the bridge over the creek. His folded arms slipped on the railing and he reached out to grab it. Peter stood about two yards away on the bridge. "Nothing's bothering me," Stiles said a little too quickly.

"Which is why you're out here after dark." Peter moved closer. Once he walked half the distance between them, he leaned against the railing. He looked down at the creek. "The moon is only a sliver, but that won't keep every monster away."

"It didn't stop you," Stiles agreed. He flexed his fingers on the railing. "Why are you here?"

"You're in my territory," Peter said. He turned his attention back to Stiles and tilted his head a little in contemplation. "I think you're fighting with Scott."

"I'm not fighting with Scott," Stiles answered. His nose wrinkled. He knew he shouldn't be talking to Peter, but his mouth moved on its own. It was the very topic on his mind right now. "I don't think. Am I?"

"You look like it," Peter said. "Maybe you're not shouting at each other, but he's not hanging out with you as much. You sit at lunch and he talks to other people more."

Stiles eyed Peter. He let go of the bridge and stepped back. "That's not fighting." He took a few more steps back and then turned to leave.

"Alright," Peter said, "it's drifting. But if you forget to let go at the right time, it'll become fighting."

Stiles took a deep breath. He did not want to look back and validate anything Peter said. Part of him thought turning his back on a once Alpha werewolf was probably stupid even if it was close to the new moon. When Stiles got all the way to his jeep and assessed his surroundings, he saw that Peter had not followed.

If Stiles believed he could be hypnotized, he would have thought Peter had done so last night. It seemed like every little thing that was different at school caught Stiles' attention. The lacrosse season ended last week. Morning routine became hanging in the cafeteria with Scott. Soon Isaac joined them and Stiles found himself listening to a conversation about the veterinarian's office. As Stiles listened, he realized that even before the lacrosse season ended, he spent his school mornings just listening to Scott and Isaac. The conversations weren't long or serious, but Stiles did not feel he could add anything to them. Stiles shook his head to clear his mind.

Isaac stopped mid-sentence and looked at Stiles curiously. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Stiles said, "just a fly or something." The bell rang and the boys parted ways to first period classes.

All morning, Stiles began to notice a pattern. He was uncertain if he created the pattern because of what Peter said or he only just noticed it now. When he had classes with Scott, there was always another werewolf in the class. Scott seemed to gravitate more towards his fellow werewolf than Stiles. When the bell rang for lunch, Stiles followed Scott to the cafeteria and asked, "Do you think we're quieter than usual?"

Scott smiled his "that's out of left field" smile with a touch of nervous in the corners. "What?"

"You know. I just thought we were quiet today," Stiles said. He was trying to not to shift blame on anyone.

Scott got into the lunch line. "I don't know. I guess you've been quiet? I didn't really notice."

"I don't really need…" Stiles voice trailed as the cafeteria worker slopped the daily canned vegetable onto Stiles' tray. His attention turned back to Scott. "Do you want to hang today or practice or something?"

Scott grabbed two milks for himself. "I promised Isaac we'd work on the history project tonight."

"Still not done?" Stiles asked.

Scott snorted and they moved towards the cash register. "We can't all be you and Danny. I bet you two had yours done ages ago."

"Two days ago."

"Same thing." Scott sat down at a table so Stiles could sit on one side of him and left the seat on his other side reserved.

"What about tomorrow?" Stiles asked.

"New work schedule," Scott said. "Now that the season's over I'm only taking Wednesdays off, remember?"

It was the first Stiles heard of it, but it seemed logical enough. "Yeah. Maybe later then."

Scott grinned then and dug into his food when Isaac took the reserved seat. Allison soon sat across from Scott. Lydia followed Allison and Jackson sat beside her. Erica sat beside Stiles and Boyd next to her. The lunch table buzzed with conversation and the sound of eating. It wasn't until Stiles tossed the trash on his tray and followed Erica and Boyd out into the hall that he realized Scott, Isaac, and Allison were turning in the opposite direction. Stiles looked back at them and stopped walking.

"What is it?" Boyd looked back as well.

"Nothing," Stiles answered. He did not have his next class with Scott. They would see each other in Chemistry later. He continued walking with Erica and Boyd. Stiles wondered when he stopped hanging outside of the Spanish classroom with Scott until they both had to scramble to their separate classes before the bell.

Twilight found Stiles out on the lacrosse pitch alone. He threw the ball into the air, caught it in the pocket his stick and sent it towards the goal. Stiles watched the ball fly true until Peter caught it. "Isn't it kind of creepy to lurk around the high school at your age?"

Peter ignored the comment and examined the ball in his hand. "When I was your age, Beacon Hills was all about basketball." His gaze shifted to Stiles.

"It still is," Stiles said. His nose wrinkled. He needed to stop actually engaging Peter in conversation. Stiles grabbed the bag he kept his lacrosse balls in and then realized Peter was standing in the middle of all the balls Stiles sent towards the goal. He sighed and walked over.

Peter dropped the ball into Stiles' bag when Stiles arrived. "It looks like today wasn't much better than yesterday."

"It's high school. It's not supposed to be fun all the time," Stiles said. He began stuffing the lacrosse balls on the ground into his bag.

Peter stepped out of the way. He observed Stiles. "I think you know how this will end. It's a story a lot of people tell about school. You meet a friendly kid and then one day you wonder what happened to them and you just don't know."

"Scott's not like that," Stiles said.

"Everyone's like that," Peter said. "You're like that."

Stiles stood up and pulled the drawstrings of his bag tight. "I'm not. We're just busy. It happens."

"When summer comes and he starts working with Deaton full time yet somehow still finds time for his little wolf pack, then what? When you're up late at nigh playing some video game and you hear a wolf howl, will you even know where Scott is?" Peter circled Stiles. "Your daring rescue in your jeep was spectacular. I saw it. It spoke to your friendship, but," Peter paused and stood so close to Stiles that his voice needed only be barely a whisper, "you both know that you should have been at his side long before that."

Stiles swallowed. He looked at Peter, then away and back to Peter. "I was busy."

"Were you?" Peter asked. "The entire time?"

Stiles looked down at the draw strings and tied them into a loose knot. "Yeah." When Stiles looked back up, Peter was gone. Stiles grabbed his lacrosse stick and walked back to his jeep in the darkness.

The next morning, Stiles overslept. He managed to make it to school on time but not with enough time to catch Scott and Isaac in the cafeteria. He did not see Scott until Economics class. Stiles dropped his bag on the floor and sat down in the seat in front of Scott. Scott's head was down on his desk. Stiles looked at Isaac curiously.

"We had a long night last night," Isaac said. "There's a new –"

"There's nothing," Scott interrupted with a yawn. He sat up and ran his hands through his hair. "We just got our butts handed to us by the History project."

Stiles looked at Isaac who quickly turned a page in his textbook. Stiles eyes shifted to Scott who offered a small smile. Before Stiles could say anything, Coach Finstock entered the room with a stack of unit tests. When the class let out, Stiles hung back and fell into step with Scott. "Something's going on. Look we're both being weird. Everyone's being weird."

"Nothing's going on," Scott said. He went to his locker and exchanged his books. "We're just busy."

"We weren't always this busy," Stiles said. "Did Jackson doing…that thing really make us infinitely busy?"

Scott zipped his bag back up and put it on his shoulder. "It's almost finals."

"And you need to study with me, right?" Stiles asked.

"Yeah," Scott said. "Or at least try."

"You have to do more than try," Stiles said. "I don't want you failing any of your classes."

"I won't." Scott did not look as sure as his voice sounded. "Catch you at gym."

The more Stiles observed, the more he watched the werewolves closing ranks. Isaac always found a way to be near Scott. Erica and Boyd were never far, though they were not always close. In gym, the class split into two teams for dodge ball. Stiles was on the opposing side and he saw the four werewolves in discussion when they were in their team's designated out zone. Peter's words were still in Stiles' mind and he tried to push them away. If he was on the same team, he'd be in the conversation as well. At least, that was what Stiles wanted to believe.

Stiles was home before the sun set that night. He could smell supper cooking and slipped out of his shoes. "I'm home."

Sheriff Stilinski appeared. He was on call today. Things had been quiet in Beacon Hills lately. It felt more like the calm before a storm than things returning to normal. "I didn't think you'd be home soon." He looked at Stiles and his gaze softened. "Long day?"

"Sort of," Stiles said. He followed his nose into the kitchen. Stiles grabbed the milk out of the fridge and poured a glass.

Stilinski did not press. He went back to cooking. There was a pot of macaroni on the stove next to a skillet full of ground beef and onions just waiting for tomato sauce and spices.

Stiles finished his milk and studied his glass and then his dad. "Do you ever talk to anybody you knew from school?"

Stilinski added the tomato sauce to the skillet and when the hissing died down, he replied, "Sometimes. Our class rep calls once every ten years and tries to convince me to go to a reunion. Every five years, they put out a pamphlet of what everyone's been up to, but that's only the people who volunteer information."

Stiles put his glass in the sink. "So, you mostly have your friends from work then."

"Why the interest?" Stilinski added the spices and stirred.

"No reason," Stiles said. He saw his father's expression and took a breath. "Sort of. Not yet. I think." He pulled the macaroni off the heat so it wouldn't overcook. He could feel Stilinski's gaze. Stiles knew not that long ago he would be spilling his guts to his dad. He would tell him that Scott had these friends and they were keeping secrets and Stiles almost wondered if he and Scott were just going to be reduced to classroom buddies by the start of the next school year. Yet, Stiles kept quiet on the topic and helped get supper finished.

That night Stiles could not sleep. He slipped on his shoes and headed out for a walk around the neighborhood. As he rounded a corner, he heard a low howl in the distances. Stiles looked towards the source and then frowned. "You've got to be kidding me," he murmured to himself. There was a wolf howl and he honestly did not know where Scott was. Stiles wondered if it was Peter messing with him, but he thought the howl sounded almost feminine if wolf howls could be such. Stiles turned back towards home and stopped. "You can't just say, 'hi,' like anyone else," he said.

Derek looked at him from where he stood casually on a few yards away. His eyes shifted away and scanned around them. "There isn't time for that. You probably shouldn't be out here so casually."

"Oh good. You're part of the magic werewolf club too." Stiles sighed.

"The what?"

"Nothing." Stiles could not remember why he thought going for a walk in his pajamas at this hour would not lead to weird encounters. Everything led to weird encounters now.

"Don't you know?" Derek asked.

"I know that something's going on," Stiles said. "That's all I know. Everyone's having their hushed conversations and History project parties and I don't know. Even your uncle is talking to me, and that makes maybe even less sense."

Derek's eyebrows furrowed. His mind was visibly working. "There's an Alpha pack in Beacon Hills. We've been dealing with them since Jackson turned." Derek held Stiles' gaze. "I thought you knew."

Stiles mind ran with the information. "An Alpha pack, so they're all Alpha wolves?" From Derek's expression, Stiles knew he was right. He frowned as he considered the gravity of such a situation. "Everyone thinks I'm a liability."

"Then prove them wrong," Derek said. "You have strengths the others don't have. Show them that they need you." His posture tensed and his attention went to the woods nearby.

Stiles followed Derek's gaze. He saw nothing, though he thought he could feel eyes watching. "I should go home." Stiles walked past Derek and headed back the way he arrived. The woods on the outskirts of the neighborhood kept drawing Stiles' attention, but he never saw anything actually watching him. When he got home, he locked the door and leaned against it before removing his shoes. He could only think of one thing he could do. Research.

The next morning found Stiles sitting on the hood of his jeep waiting. He watched Scott pull into a parking spot. Scott looked as tired as Stiles felt. Stiles slid off his jeep and walked over. He held up a notebook and then gently swatted Scott in the arm with it.

"Hey, it's too early for studying," Scott said.

"Never too early," Stiles said. "Not when there's a group of Alphas swarming around." Stiles watched Scott's expression morph into surprise then guilt and finally something close to apologetic. "I get it, I do. I'm not a werewolf. I can't fight fangs with claws." He sighed. "Did you know that Peter Hale's been trying to talk to me?"

"What?" Scott looked around but of course there were only students around them.

"Yeah," Stiles said, "he's been trying to exploit the fact we aren't talking. I think I know why. I found some resources on what the Alpha pack might want from not just Derek but you and Peter too. I don't know how reliable they are, but they seem to match what's been happening for a while." Stiles adjusted his book bag on his shoulder. "If you get Isaac and the others around, I'll fill you in. I don't know what you guys know, but I know the last thing we want to do is split up like this. If we do that, then that could give Peter an advantage."

Scott looked at Stiles. "Sorry."

"Just be glad I'm on your side," Stiles said and the two entered the school building in step with each other.

**The End**


End file.
